Checking your phone in lectures can cost you half a grade, researchers find

Researchers at the University of Rutgers conducted an in-class experiment where students divided their attention between phones and lectures.

They found that using electronic devices during a lecture can shave 5%, or half a grade, off of undergraduates’ marks in their end-of-term exams.

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It pays to put your phone away during class, a new study has found. Researchers conducted an in-class experiment where students divided their attention between phones and lectures

The study shows for the first time that using a phone in the classroom primarily impacts long-term retention, researchers said.

For the study, 118 cognitive psychology students at Rutgers University took part in the experiment.

Phones, tablets and laptops were allowed in one-half of the lectures and banned in the other half.

Students were taught the same class material by the same instructor over roughly the same amount of time, according to the study, which was published in the journal Educational Psychology.

Using a phone in class didn’t lower students’ scores in comprehension tests, but it did effect their long-term comprehension and retention of class material.

Interestingly, they also found that when electronic devices were allowed in class, students who didn’t use them still did poorly, suggesting that technology use ‘damages the group learning environment.’

Researchers found that when technology was permitted in the classroom, that students performed poorly on end-of-term exams, even if they didn’t use a device during class

Using a phone in class didn’t lower students’ scores in comprehension tests, but it did effect their long-term comprehension and retention of class material

‘These findings should alert the many dedicated students and instructors that dividing attention is having an insidious effect that is impairing their exam performance and final grade,’ said Arnold Glass, who led the study, in a statement.

‘To help manage the use of devices in the classroom, teachers should explain to students the damaging effect of distractions on retention – not only for themselves, but for the whole class.’

The study also illustrates the impact of divided attention in the classroom, or that if someone is forced to segment their attention between two tasks, they’re less likely to be able to recall vital information later on.

In the course used in the study, students were given in-class questions to help them remember material, aside from just passive listening.

When electronic devices were allowed in class, students who didn’t use them still did poorly, suggesting that technology use ‘damages the group learning environment’ (pictured)

This means that students could do worse in other courses, based on how they’re taught, if they’re given access to electronics during the lecture.

The impacts might be shown in more than just the end-of-term exams, in things like unit exams, too.

Glass told ABC News that the study’s findings are applicable to not just college lectures, but also high school and middle school classes, as well as meetings.

HOW SEVERE IS SMARTPHONE ADDICTION?

With the average age for a child to get their first phone now just 10, young people are becoming more and more reliant on their smartphones.

Worrying research from Korea University suggests that this dependence on the technology could even be affecting some teens’ brains.

The findings reveals that teenagers who are addicted to their smartphones are more likely to suffer from mental disorders, including depression and anxiety.

Other studies have shown people are so dependent on their smartphone that they happily break social etiquette to use them.

Researchers from mobile connectivity firm iPass surveyed more than 1,700 people in the US and Europe about their connectivity habits, preferences and expectations.

The survey revealed some of the most inappropriate situations in which people have felt the need to check their phone – during sex (seven per cent), on the toilet (72 per cent) and even during a funeral (11 per cent).

Nearly two thirds of people said they felt anxious when not connected to the Wi-Fi, with many saying they’d give up a range of items and activities in exchange for a connection.

Sixty-one per cent of respondents said that Wi-Fi was impossible to give up – more than for sex (58 per cent), junk food (42 per cent), smoking (41 per cent), alcohol (33 per cent), or drugs (31 per cent).

A quarter of respondents even went so far as to say that they’d choose Wi-Fi over a bath or shower, and 19 per cent said they’d choose Wi-Fi over human contact.